Darwin braces for cyclone

RESIDENTS of the northern Australian city of Darwin were last night preparing for the onslaught of a severe tropical cyclone predicted to be one of the worst storms ever to hit Australia.

Fishermen were securing their boats and a uranium mine halted operations as category-five cyclone Monica, packing winds of up to 217mph, hovered about 275 miles north-east of Darwin, lashing sparsely populated islands off Australia's Northern Territory, according to the national Bureau of Meteorology.

Senior forecaster Gordon Jackson said the storm was "quite possibly" the worst cyclone to hit Australia more powerful than even Cyclone Tracy, which levelled Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974, killing 65 people.

The cyclone has been tracking along Australia's northern coast for days, threatening remote Aboriginal communities but causing no injuries or major damage.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the cyclone had landed at Maningrida in the far north. The "incredibly destructive" core of the storm had winds of up to 350kmh.

"The winds are incredibly strong and gales will continue to be felt in areas long after the core of the cyclone has passed," a spokeswoman said.

"This is one of the worst storms to ever hit the area and is heading at the moment in west-southwest direction."

The storm was expected to hit Darwin in the early hours of today, but it was predicted that it would weaken to a category-three or four storm by then.

Hundreds of people in remote areas in the direct path of the storm had already been evacuated.

Local media reported that residents of Darwin, a city of 100,000 people, were mostly calm. Long queues formed at supermarkets as people stocked up on food and water and many were making plans to leave the city.

Dennis McDonnell told the Northern Territory news that he was not worried, but had been cleaning up his neighbourhood: "Since yesterday I've been going around cleaning up the yards of other people who can't do it themselves."

He added: "You don't want missiles flying around."